Ecology of the Jamaican Slider Turtle (Trachemys terrapen), with
Implications for Conservation and Management.
Tracey
D. Tuberville1, Kurt A. Buhlmann1,2, Rhema Kerr
Bjorkland3, and Doug Booher3
Author Affiliations
1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, South
Carolina 29802 USA
[Fax: 803-725-3309; E-mails: tuberville@srel.edu; kbuhlmann@earthlink.net]
2Conservation International, Center for Applied Biodiversity
Science, 1919 M Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20036 USA;
3University of Georgia, Institute of Ecology, Athens, Georgia
30602 USA [E-mail: rhemaker@hotmail.com]
Abstract
We investigated populations of the Jamaican slider turtle (Trachemys
terrapen), a species apparently endemic to Jamaica and the only native
freshwater turtle species known to occur there. We captured 54 turtles
at four sites (three along the southern coast and one in the northwest)
representing a variety of habitats, including a permanently ponded wetland,
farm ponds, and a stream in karst landscape. Turtles were also found in
a series of seasonal ponds where they retreat into cave refugia during
dry periods when caves remain flooded, thus allowing the slider population
to exist in this seasonally arid landscape. We did not observe or capture
turtles during limited sampling in a large river or a brackish mangrove
swamp. Individuals from the northwest population (n = 12) were
morphologically distinct from turtles captured along the south coast (n
= 42) and descriptions provided in the literature for T. terrapen.
Jamaican slider turtles are harvested incidentally by local residents
wherever they are found, and concentrated populations, such as those in
cave refugia, are heavily exploited. Our preliminary research suggests
that T. terrapen is a highly threatened species needing conservation
action in order to ensure its persistence.
Keywords
Reptilia; Testudines; Emydidae; Trachemys terrapen; Trachemys
scripta elegans; turtle; distribution; ecology; conservation; status;
natural history; Jamaica; West Indies
SREL Reprint #2893
Tuberville,
T. D., K. A. Buhlmann, R. K. Bjorkland and D. Booher 2005. Ecology of
the Jamaican slider turtle (Trachemys terrapen), with implications
for conservation and management. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4:908-915.
